Meet the reclusive Spanish billionaire who just beat out Bill Gates to become the richest person in the world

Amancio Ortega is the richest man in the world.Getty Images / Xurxo Lobato
Despite claiming the title of the richest man in the world, Zara's founder, Amancio Ortega, is a man of mystery.

On Wednesday, Ortega beat out Bill Gates to become the richest person on Earth, Forbes reported. Ortega currently has a $200 million edge over Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, due in part to a particularly good week for the stock of Inditex, Zara's parent company.

According to Forbes, Ortega has crowded the world's richest person three other times — but has always surrendered the No. 1 position within a day.

Despite Ortega's enormous net worth, many people have never heard of him. He is an incredibly private man, is rarely seen in public, and has given just a handful of interviews throughout his incredibly successful career.

That career began when Ortega founded fast-fashion giant Zara with his then-wife Rosalia in 1975. Today, his retail company Inditex SA — which owns Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Pull&Bear — has 7,385 outposts around the world.

While Ortega is immensely private, we do know a fair amount about him. Here's everything you need to know about the richest man in fashion.

Ashley Lutz and Mallory Schlossberg contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

On the weekends, Ortega reportedly raises goats and chickens at his country home in the Spanish province of Galicia.

His immense wealth has allowed him to hobnob with celebrities and royalty. Here he is pictured with Princess Letizia and Crown Prince Felipe of Spain in 2008. The pair are now King and Queen of the country.

Reuters/Miguel Vidal

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He also bought one of the tallest skyscrapers in Spain, the Torre Picasso in Madrid. The building stands at 515 feet and cost $536 million.